Case Studies

Pregnancy heartburn and anxiety

Helen (not her real name) came to see me. She was 27 weeks pregnant with her fourth child, and her main complaint was an excruciating burning pain in her chest. It was very intense and got worse with things like lying on her left side and eating. She had it with every pregnancy, and nothing she tried helped.

Another issue was with her sleep. With three kids she was woken up frequently in the night, and then she could never get back to sleep. She’d just lie there wide awake, worrying.

That was a big issue for Helen when I first saw her. She was very anxious, especially about her health and that of her kids. She couldn’t get the difficult things she’d been through in her life out of her head. They plagued her, and this got even worse at night.

Helen had what she called ‘irrational worries’. She’d worry about things happening to her kids, and she knew they were very unlikely, but she couldn’t stop them from being there all the time.

Helen was also struggling with pain in her pelvic region, which got much worse when she was walking or bending over.

In our first consultation Helen and I explored the details of her issues; when they started and how they were affecting her. Along with details of her previous pregnancies and births, her medical history and recent family medical history.

I prescribed her high potency Arsenicum album, and this is what she said a month later:

‘The remedy worked like magic on the burning pain in my chest, it was the first thing to go. I didn’t think there was anything that could be done for that. My sleep was so problematic, it still happens, but very very rarely. It’s gone from being really debilitating, to much more manageable. My pelvic pain was really bad. My osteopath said it would just get worse and worse as my pregnancy went on. It is totally better now. I feel much more grounded and positive.’

Helen continued to progress well through her pregnancy, and through the birth of her little baby. I continue to treat Helen, her husband and her children. Recently she told me this:

‘I’m so grateful that my family have you to help us. My son’s nosebleeds stopped and never came back, he was having them so often before. He is also now doing so much better with his friends and at school. My husband is also doing so well, I’m sure his recovery has a lot to do with you. Thank you so much.’

Chronic sinusitis

Sarah (not her real name) is 17 years old, and for the last couple of years kept on getting ill with sinusitis. She’d had lots of time off school, and has missed out on many things going on with her friends.

Every few months she’d get very severe pain in her eyes, behind her eyes and down her cheekbones. Here eyes would swell up and even staring at a wall hurt. Just moving her eyes caused a lot of pain and sometimes she didn’t feel she could move anything at all when it was at its worse.

Her teeth would ache and she had a throbbing headache.

This had been going on for 2 years.

We discussed her symptoms in great detail, looking at each area and how it affected her. We identified when it all started and how it had progressed.

I gave Sarah one dose of Bryonia. Here’s what her mum wrote a few months after treatment:

‘My daughter had been suffering with sinusitis almost constantly for two years. Since seeing Charlie and taking the remedies she has been clear for months now. Charlie took so much care and time to get to an understanding of the root of the problem. We are relieved, thrilled and would recommend you try homeopathy sooner than we did.’